KHL Season 2022-23

[Barclay Donaldson]

I watched some horrible youtube video about this whole KHL import situation, saying how they will struggle to sign players and the rest. What I don't understand is, even without any import players the KHL/Russian league/system is still one of the strongest in hockey.

For example if the UK had these restrictions and no imports could sign the whole hockey system would collapse overnight

Still one of the strongest, but it is an inarguable fact that without imports the league becomes weaker. Any league in the world would if it was almost entirely restricted to domestic players, of whom the best still leave at the soonest opportunity.

The whole point of the KHL's creation was to become the best, later revised to be best of Europe. They are dangerously close to being behind other European league systems without those top end imports.

As for your example, that is low hanging fruit and an obvious statement. The same thing could be said about DEL, ICEHL, and a half dozen other leagues. If the UK's Premier League had these restrictions and no imports could sign their whole system would collapse overnight.

 

[Jussi]

Clearly foreigners are still signing

"This tweet is unavailable"

 

[Caser]

"This tweet is unavailable"

It was Pilko's tweet about 5 of his clients signing in the KHL. Probably that includes previously announced Daniel Audette and, judging by the recent reports, Christian Jaros and Nic Petan.

Upd.: And apparently Mark Jankowski too.

 

[SoundAndFury]

There were always going to be exceptions. I have little doubt those import slots that there are in the KHL are going to get filled by people who don't care, people who want to grab a maybe once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, etc. It's just that the choices for the KHL clubs became limited by much more than their financial capabilities.

If some of the NA folks thought it was "exotic" to play in Russia before, I can't wait what impressions this bunch is going to take away. Half of them, are, of course just mental midgets that will come prepared to not care but I feel the other half who are legitimately clueless are in for surprise.

 

[Jussi]

Are we sure these aren't like the few Finnish players contracts that were signed in January and the players have no intention of playing there?

 

[Caser]

Are we sure these aren't like the few Finnish players contracts that were signed in January and the players have on intention of playing there?

In that tweet it was mentioned that the contracts were signed couple of days ago, but I don't think we can be sure about anything at all until it is September (including those Finnish players, as so far the IIHF didn't provide them with a proper solution I think).

 

[Jussi]

In that tweet it was mentioned that the contracts were signed couple of days ago, but I don't think we can be sure about anything at all until it is September (including those Finnish players, as so far the IIHF didn't provide them with a proper solution I think).

They have a clear case for "force majeure".

 

[Caser]

They have a clear case for "force majeure".

Yes, but I mean, the IIHF didn't make the procedure any easier for them, so it might be that in the worst case scenario to have the contracts terminated and get their transfer to the new team approved they will have to go through CAS (although I think they'll settle it with Avtomobilist somehow, but again it is from the 'can't be sure' type of things).

 

[Jussi]

Yes, but I mean, the IIHF didn't make the procedure any easier for them, so it might be that in the worst case scenario to have the contracts terminated and get their transfer to the new team approved they will have to go through CAS (although I think they'll settle it with Avtomobilist somehow, but again it is from the 'can't be sure' type of things).

Finnish sport legal expert(s) were interviewed about this a while ago and he/they thought it was a slam dunk case of force majeure and they'd win in any court.

 

[Caser]

Finnish sport legal expert(s) were interviewed about this a while ago and he/they thought it was a slam dunk case of force majeure and they'd win in any court.

Yes, but I mean they still will need to go to the court then, which might take time and effort.

 

[barriers]

 

[SoundAndFury]

It's honestly kinda sad. While guys like Morozov or Marchenko were pretty much flat out ran out of country they are offering record deal for the ghost of Radulov's past.

 

[alko]

There is talk, that they want to sell the TV rights for a channel, that will demand peoples money to watch the games.

 

[Caser]

There is talk, that they want to sell the TV rights for a channel, that will demand peoples money to watch the games.

If I understand correctly you are talking about the rumors about selling those to the Russian streaming service Okko, but I doubt that there will be much impact from that - both for the league, as the sum is rather modest (15m USD for 5 years) and for viewers, as those right won't be exclusive. There might be an issue with free highlights again though.

 

[Jussi]

Yes, but I mean they still will need to go to the court then, which might take time and effort.

Miljoonien eurojen sakko Venäjältä? Suomen KHL-pelaajien tarina herättää kysymyksiä: ”Suuresti epäilen”

Urheiluoikeuden asiantuntijan Olli Rausteen mukaan suomalaisten KHL-kiekkoilijoiden ei olisi todennäköisesti tarvinnut maksaa sopimussakkoja, vaikka he olisivat jättäneet seuransa kesken kauden.

www.iltalehti.fi

According to Finnish sports law expert Olli Rauste, the court issue is sort of redundant because Russian court rulings are not recognized in Finland or other Western countries and the players are in Finland, so they can't be forced to pay. And since the IIHF has already banned Russia and Belarus, it's not possible in practice that they would not be given an international transfer card.

 

[Caser]

Miljoonien eurojen sakko Venäjältä? Suomen KHL-pelaajien tarina herättää kysymyksiä: ”Suuresti epäilen”

Urheiluoikeuden asiantuntijan Olli Rausteen mukaan suomalaisten KHL-kiekkoilijoiden ei olisi todennäköisesti tarvinnut maksaa sopimussakkoja, vaikka he olisivat jättäneet seuransa kesken kauden.

www.iltalehti.fi

According to Finnish sports law expert Olli Rauste, the court issue is sort of redundant because Russian court rulings are not recognized in Finland or other Western countries and the players are in Finland, so they can't be forced to pay. And since the IIHF has already banned Russia and Belarus, it's not possible in practice that they would not be given an international transfer card.

The issue is that they have been just banned from the tournaments, not excluded from IIHF, therefore the RHF is still a member of the IIHF, I actually expected that at the recent congress there would be some sort of decision for that kind of transfers, but as far as I know there wasn't any. Therefore if we look just on the existing rules then if RHF blocks the transfer the next step should be the CAS. How it will be in practice indeed remains to be seen, I think they will come up with something for that, but I'm surprised they haven't done that yet, might be that they just hope that if they'll wait everything will be settled somehow by both sides, which is also a possibility.

 

[Jussi]

The issue is that they have been just banned from the tournaments, not excluded from IIHF, therefore the RHF is still a member of the IIHF, I actually expected that at the recent congress there would be some sort of decision for that kind of transfers, but as far as I know there wasn't any. Therefore if we look just on the existing rules then if RHF blocks the transfer the next step should be the CAS. How it will be in practice indeed remains to be seen, I think they will come up with something for that, but I'm surprised they haven't done that yet, might be that they just hope that if they'll wait everything will be settled somehow by both sides, which is also a possibility.

The congress was for hosting duties of future tournaments. They don't need the full assembly to decided these matters. I'm sorry but I'll take the word of someone who's an expert on international sports law and a former(?) CAS member over you. And if it were to go to CAS, they would 100% accept the force majeure. It's a slamdunk on that subject matter.

Olli Rauste:
 CAS Arbitrator 1994-
o Served as a member of the Panel in arbitrations mainly in doping related matters
o Member of the ad hoc Division in Winter Olympic Games 2002

 

[Caser]

The congress was for hosting duties of future tournaments. They don't need the full assembly to decided these matters. I'm sorry but I'll take the word of someone who's an expert on international sports law over you. And if it were to go to CAS, they would 100% accept the force majeure. It's a slamdunk on that subject matter.

I'm just telling how the process is currently with the transfer cards, that's something googlable to anyone, expert or not. With that being said, there is a point where IIHF could overrule the RHF block, but usually it is for cases when the block reasoning isn't considered enough, but for that type of things some sort of a decision would be needed (e.g. to consider KHL contract not enough for the block). As for the CAS, I also think they would win there, but noone usually wants to go there since it can take some time, that's why I'm not surprised that Metsola's agent already told they want to settle it with Avtomobilist somehow. To make things more interesting, if the contract indeed was signed in January it should be a violation of the KHL rules, so Avtomobilist is actively denying that now.

 

[Kshahdoo]

I personally don't care about Finns and their contracts. I bet you'll hardly see any Finnish player in the KHL anymore. Finnish fans are happy, but it won't be them who lose chances to earn big money. Anyway, the players've made up their minds and they pay for this.

There are a lot of NA players to hire. They won't refuse to come and mostly just don't give a f*** for politics. You pay them, they play. There are a lot of skillful NA players in the AHL, who just aren't suitable for the NHL pace or physicality but going to be ok in the KHL, and they won't ask for the sky. At least at the start.

But I personally don't care even about them. The thing I care the most this season about is SKA letting kids play. I hope for Chibrikov - Svechkov - Michkov line. I think kids are ready to play for the big team. And without any international tournaments this season it's gonna be a good chance for them to make some noise in the league.

 

[SoundAndFury]

There are a lot of NA players to hire. They won't refuse to come and mostly just don't give a f*** for politics. You pay them, they play. There are a lot of skillful NA players in the AHL, who just aren't suitable for the NHL pace or physicality but going to be ok in the KHL, and they won't ask for the sky. At least at the start.

I actually doubt this quite a lot. If there actually were that many AHL players willing and suitable to play in the KHL we would have seen more of those already. Yet they were roughly just 1/3 of the imports.

Between those who 1) not given up on the NHL yet; 2) have relatively decent veteran contracts in the AHL; 3) aren't willing to endure the grind of playing in Russia; 4) do actually care about politics or at least consequences of the politics that might impact them directly, the market is really not that big.

It's only easy to say "there are a lot of NA players to hire" when you take it as a whole. In actuality, unless you are willing to sign AHL 3rd liners, it gets pretty rough out there.

 

[Kshahdoo]

I actually doubt this quite a lot. If there actually were that many AHL players willing and suitable to play in the KHL we would have seen more of those already. Yet they were roughly just 1/3 of the imports.

Between those who 1) not given up on the NHL yet; 2) have relatively decent veteran contracts in the AHL; 3) aren't willing to endure the grind of playing in Russia; 4) do actually care about politics or at least consequences of the politics that might impact them directly, the market is really not that big.

It's only easy to say "there are a lot of NA players to hire" when you take it as a whole. In actuality, unless you are willing to sign AHL 3rd liners, it gets pretty rough out there.

Minsk and Barys never had problems with finding good NA players, other teams prefered to sign Europeans.

 

[Caser]

I personally don't care about Finns and their contracts. I bet you'll hardly see any Finnish player in the KHL anymore. Finnish fans are happy, but it won't be them who lose chances to earn big money. Anyway, the players've made up their minds and they pay for this.

There are a lot of NA players to hire. They won't refuse to come and mostly just don't give a f*** for politics. You pay them, they play. There are a lot of skillful NA players in the AHL, who just aren't suitable for the NHL pace or physicality but going to be ok in the KHL, and they won't ask for the sky. At least at the start.

But I personally don't care even about them. The thing I care the most this season about is SKA letting kids play. I hope for Chibrikov - Svechkov - Michkov line. I think kids are ready to play for the big team. And without any international tournaments this season it's gonna be a good chance for them to make some noise in the league.

Avtomobilist's Finnish players situation is interesting for me as such, as different ways to solve it can have different consequences.

I kind of understand you though, but not even about SKA, young players in general were getting very limited opportunities in the KHL in the last couple of seasons unfortunately and I think one of the reasons was that a team didn't have to develop young players much since they could find enough foreigners to fix all their roster deficits. With the current situation and the decision on reducing the foreigner limit in a year the overall league level will go down a bit, but I think it is still better than the way it was recently.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Minsk and Barys never had problems with finding good NA players, other teams prefered to sign Europeans.

Define "good". When you have half of the roster to fill out with imports it's very different to having 3 import slots.

How many Lintuniemis, Heatheringtons, Kunyks and Varones do you get per every Vey or Knight? Just quickly skimming through their rosters, I'd say the ratio is around 1/3 completely forgetable/busts, 1/3 passable and 1/3 good to great. Which, once again, only makes sense since they basically have to fill lines 1 to 3.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

I'm just telling how the process is currently with the transfer cards, that's something googlable to anyone, expert or not. With that being said, there is a point where IIHF could overrule the RHF block, but usually it is for cases when the block reasoning isn't considered enough, but for that type of things some sort of a decision would be needed (e.g. to consider KHL contract not enough for the block). As for the CAS, I also think they would win there, but noone usually wants to go there since it can take some time, that's why I'm not surprised that Metsola's agent already told they want to settle it with Avtomobilist somehow. To make things more interesting, if the contract indeed was signed in January it should be a violation of the KHL rules, so Avtomobilist is actively denying that now.

Still listed as signed through 23/24 according to eliteprospects.com, is that where Metsola will play this season?

 

[Caser]

Still listed as signed through 23/24 according to eliteprospects.com, is that where Metsola will play this season?

As I think I mentioned previously in this thread I don't really think he will play in the KHL next season, there's some rumor about him going to Switzerland, still it is interesting to see how this whole situation will be solved.